QUALITY OF LIFE
The Sam Schmidt Paralysis Foundation, through the generosity of its donors, directly benefits millions of disabled people through the Foundation’s Quality of Life grants. This is an important program of SSPF as it helps to change and inspire lives.
2010 Quality of Life Grants
Adaptive Sports Center (Crested Butte, CO)
The Adaptive Sports Center improves the quality of life of people with disabilities through outdoor adventure activities. The programs offered are inclusive to families and friends, empowering participants in their daily lives and have an enduring impact on their health, self-confidence, and well-being. SSPF’s grant is restricted to scholarships for participants with SCI.
Adventist Rehabilitation Hospital of MD (Rockville, MD)
This grant will support the adaptive sports program at the Hospital. The program includes the Adventist Knights wheelchair basketball team which participates in an annual Wheelchair Basketball Tournament. The grant will be used to help purchase adpative sports wheelchairs and fund local practice space for the Adventist Knights.
All Heart Tornadoes Wheelchair Basketball Team (Pembroke, NC)
The All Heart Tornadoes Wheelchair Basketball Team is dedicated to providing recreation and rehabilitation through wheelchair basketball. Although the majority of the players have spinal cord injuries, the team was organized to give those with various types of disabilities an opportunity to maintain a healthy lifestyle, uphold a positive attitude, and develop lasting friendships among persons with similar disabilities.
Alliance for Neighbors, Inc. (Altamonte Springs, FL)
The mission of Alliance for Neighbors is to provide assistance and the opportunity for self-help to residents of central Florida counties, specifically to the physically disabled of homeless families with children, homeless/abused children with physical disabilities, and/or special needs and battered/abused women with children. This grant is restricted to helping those with SCI.
ALS Association, Oregon & SW Washington Chapter (Portland, OR)
Assistive Communication Technology Program
The Oregon and SW Washington Chapter of the ALS Organization serves approximately 300 out of the 500 families in their region liveing with ALS at any given time. A top priority of this chapter is to serve the ever-changing assistive communication technology needs of people with ALS through the Assistive Communication Technology Program. This resource provides patients with equipment free-of-charge to meet their constantly changing needs and allows continued access to technology that can vastly improve their quality of life.
Angelica Patient Assistance Program (New York, NY)
Angelica’s mission is to enhance the lives of economically disadvantaged patients in need of long-term medical care. SSPF’s grant will help with funds to provide access to sporting events for wheelchair-bound patients who live at Coler-Goldwater Specialty Hospital & Nursing Facility (Roosevelt Island, NY). These patients rarely have the opportunity to go on an outing. Patients look forward to keaving the hospitals for an afternoon or evening the way many people look forward to a vacation. Not only are the outings fun, but the anticipation of an upcoming special outing improves the patients’ quality of life. This grant is restricted to participants with SCI.
Arizona Disabled Scuba Divers Association (Tempe, AZ)
Operation Bottom Time is a project which will address rehabilitation needs of disabled veterans, The goals of the project are: to build particpants confidence and competence; provide opportunities to socialize and network with other disabled and able-bodied persons in a positive and productive environment; and to provide oppprtunities for families to reconnect in meaningful activities that enhance physical and mental health. This grant is restricted to soldiers.
Artistic Realization Technologies (ART) (Belle Mead, NJ)
ART is dedicated to bringing uncompromised creative control to those who lack articulate means of self-expression. ART creates new tools and techniques that empower people with the most severe physical challenges to overcome the limitations of their bodies to create exceptional pieces of art work. Pieces from the ART program have been exhibited at The Jacksonville Museum of Modern Art; The Princeton University Museum; and the Newark, Morris, Monmouth and Ellarslie Museums.
Awakenings Health Institute (Solana Beach, CA)
The mission of Awakenings Health Institute (AHI) is to improve the functionality of individuals with physical and neurological disabilities through integrative post-acute therapies. AHI provides accesible exercise and wellness programs to those who need ongoing treatment for life-changing injuries or disorders suchs as SCI, traumatic brain injuries, stroke, amputees, and others who are striving to regain functionality. SSPF’s grant is restricted to asssting those who are SCI.
Center for Independent Living of North Central Florida (CILNCF) (Gainesville, FL)
The mission of CILNCF is to empower people with disabilities to exert their individual rights to live as independently as possible, make personal life choices, and achieve full community inclusion. SSPF’s grant is restricted to building ramps. This will enable people with mobility impairments who reside in predominately rural communities and are isolated in their homes due to architectual barriers. The removal of barriers and the construction of ramps will increase accessiblity to homes and reduce isolation by using ramps to go into the community, interact with others, obtain employment, attend support groups, and other activities of interest.
The Chanda Plan Foundation (Denver, CO)
The primary program of the Chanda Plan Foundation provides the opportunity for treatment and education to be available to participants with physical disabilities to stop and/or prevent ongoing health problems. This grant is restricted to providing assistance to those who are SCI.
Compassions Training & Awareness Center (Cleveland, OH)
Compassions works to improve lives by providing training for those who assist individuals with spinal cord injuries and other special needs. Compassions clients are primarily young teens and young teen mothers. The Center focuses not just on rebuilding lives, but also on rebuilding relationships while bringing back the trust between caregivers, family members, and clients.
Cumberland College, Mountain Outreach (Williamsburg, KY)
The Mountain Outreach Program strives to assist as many low-income people as possible in securing such basic needs as housing, education, and economic independence. Mountain Outreach volunteers build homes, provide food and clothing to those in need, and help needy families with home repairs, plumbing, electrical wiring, and winterization of existing homes. The grant from SSPF is restricted to constructing ramps, one of the most requested services the program offers.
Easter Seals New York (Rochester, NY)
SSPF provided a grant to support The New York Warriors Quadriplegic Rugby Team on Long Island. The grant will help provide specialized equipment, practice space, travel, satff, and other essential items for the team.
Fishing Has No Boundaries, Inc. (Hayward, WI)
Fishing Has No Boundaries (FHNB) is dedicated to improving the quaility of life of the more than 56 million disabled Americans. Their mission is to open the great outdoors to all disabled persons through education, and on the water fishing experiences.
Freedom's Wings International (Guilford, CT)
Fredom’s Wings International provides the opportunity for those who are physically challenged to fly in specially adapted sailplanes either as a passenger or as a member of the flight training programs. This grant is restricted to participants with SCI.
Friends for Michael (Campbellsburg, KY)
SSPF is supporting two programs at Friends for Michael: an all accessible playground and a Resource Room at Frazier Rehab. The playground will give all children the opportunity to play and interact with each other as well as give disabled parents a place to take their children and be able to take part in their play activities with them. The Resource Room at Frazer Rehab will provide resources for both in- and out-patients, computers, meeting areas, fully accessible restrooms, and valuable information.
Film: Godspeed: The Story of Page Jones (Los Angeles, CA)
Page Jones was a rising racing star who suffered a severe brain injury during a Sprint Car race.Godspeed is an inspirational story about Page’s legacy as a young racing star, the tragedy of his accident, immediate aftermath, and the unrelenting support of his family, friends, and the racing community.
Hillside Rehabilitation Hospital (Warren, OH)
Adapted Sports Program
Hillside’s Adapted Sports Program offers persons with disabilities and the elderly opportunities to participate in sporting activities which benefit them therapeutically and recreationally. Their goal is to increase wellness and decrease the risk of injuries and accidents. SSPF’s grant is restricted to SCI participants.
Homes for Our Troops (Taunton, MA)
In support of our men and women who became disabled during the war, a grant was made to support efforts to build new homes or make current homes accessible for these soldiers.
HOPE Equestrian Center (Eagle Point, OR)
HOPE is a therapeutic riding program designed to help people with disabilities strengthen themselves mentally, physically, or both. The benefits of therapeutic riding include muscle building, the building of thinking skills, and assistance to those with emotional disorders. This grant is restricted to helping riders with SCI.
Hospital for Special Care (New Britain, CT)
BWSTT Locomotor Training Program for SCI Patients
The Hospital for Special Care is one of 391 long-term acute care hospitals in the United States. Services provided at the Hospital reflect all aspects of recovery after discharge from the acute care setting. This intensive phase of care is weeks or months in duration, creating a close bond between the patient and clinical caregivers. The Locomotor Training program will be part of a research program conducted with incomplete cervical and thoracic injured chronic SCI patients who fit the inclusion criteria. Patients will engage in BWSST 3 days a week for a total of 36 sessions. Re-evaluations will be conducted every 12 sessions. As weight-bearing advances, additional over the ground conventional ambulation will be added to the program. Specific outcome measures will be tracked before, during, and after completion of the program. The goals of the program are to regain the ability to walk for those individuals who have suffered life-altering injuries, to maximize the functional potential of the individuals in an effort to maintain independence, and improve overall mobility and quality of life.
ICAN (Indiana Canine Assistant Network) (Indianapolis, IN)
Indiana Canine Assistant Network (ICAN) brings together three uncommon groups—children and adults with disabilities, incarcerated adults, and dogs—to assist people in living their lives more productively and with increased independence. ICAN trains and places skilled service dogs with people in Indiana who have physical or developmental disabilities. It also promotes job and life management skills to offenders who conduct the dogs’ training in Indiana correctional facilities. Priority placement is given to children & adolescents. ICAN service dogs are trained to assist children and adults who are managing various health conditions, including such things as cerebral palsy, autism, multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injuries, arthritis, and neuromuscular disorders. ICAN also places dogs with veterans who are managing a disabling condition.
I Believe, Inc. (Montclair, NJ)
I Believe was incorporate for the purpose of providing educational and public awareness programs as well as life skills training and adaptive equipment resource services to improve the lives of individuals living with paralysis and their families.
Magee Rehabilitation Hospital, Magee’s Wheelchair Sports Program (Philadelphia, PA)
Magee’s mission is to improve the quality of life of persons with disabilities by providing high quality physical and cognitive rehabilitation services.The Wheelchair Sports Program seeks to maximize the participation of individuals with disabilities in wheelchair sports and to be an integral part of the greater community. Wheelchair sports promote a healthy lifestyle for individuals with disabilities and benefits those athletes not only physically but also socially and mentally.
National Association of American Veterans (Washington, DC)
SSPF is providing a grant to help support the efforts of the National Association of American Veterans. This grants is restricted to services/programs that benefit SCI veterans.
Pushing Boundaries (Redmond, WA)
Pushing Boundaries exists to improve the lives and health of people with paralysis through exercise therapy. It is not a hospital or medical rehab facility, but a Paralysis Therapy Center, serving the Puget Sound and larger Pacific Northwest area. SSPF’s grant will help to support program costs and subsidize fees for clients who cannot afford to pay full price for intensive exercise therapy, not covered by medical insurance.
Quest to Walk (Overland Park, KS)
Quest to Walk offers an intense exercise based recovery program for individuals with spinal cord injuries. They utilize the Dardzinski Method, a physical training program that targets a dysfunctional nervous system as a result of a spinal cord injury. The have both Local (for those who are able to visit on a weekly basis) and Home (for those who cannot visit weekly) programs available to the clients they serve.
Rehabiliation Hospital of Indiana, RHI Sports Program (Indianapolis, IN)
The RHI Sports Program is dedicated to the belief that recreation is essential for all people. Their activities are designed with the intent of helping their athletes gain greater self-knowledge, decrease feelings of isolation, and increase levels of physical fitness; ultimately leading to the transference of these experiences into the areas of employment, interpersonal relationships, and community involvement. RHI currently serves over 268 participants, of which 115 are active athletes. Many are wheelchair users and participate in multiple sports. They have either been born disabled or have become disabled after incurring a spinal cord injury or traumatic brain injury. RHI Sports Program is experiencing an explosion in their services for kids with disabilities. This year they have six new children for their youth basketball team and are in need of securing equipment so they can play. SSPF’s grant will help RHI Sports purchase the special basketball wheelchairs for these kids to use and then recycle them each year for the next team. Each chair costs roughly $2200.
St Mary's Healthcare System for Children (Bayside, NY)
Constraint Induced Movement Therapy (CIMT)
St. Mary’s is one of the nation’s premier providers of intensive rehabilitation and specialized care for children with special needs and life-limiting conditions. Constraint induced movement treatment of paralysis is a demanding intervention that involves children who intensively participate in as much as six hours per day in therapy. The objective of the program is to provide children, prone to social isolation, a great “camp” experience with other kids, while offering them physical challenges designed to improve the way they participate in the world. This grant is restricted to children with SCI.
Schwab Rehabilitation Hospital (Chicago, IL)
Gaining Independence through Art and Recreation
The mission of Schwab Rehabilitation Hospital is to improve the health, function, and well being of persons with disabilities by offering effective and efficient rehabilitation services. Gaining Independence through Art and Recreation allows people with newly aquired disabilities to break free from the social isolation, depression, anxiety, and insecurity that can set in through formal community outings. The program allows people with disabilities to visit a venue for socialization, while also enlightening participants of the vast array of activities available to them. It is the goal of the program to empower people with disabilities to try a similar activity on their own.
SCI Hope (Brownsburg, IN)
SCI Hope assists individuals with spinal cord injuries through financial grants. Their mission is to help these individuals gain independence through quality of life. Grants are made payable to the vendor or as a reimbursement to the individual with proof of payment. Grants will assist individuals with things such as medical bills, living expenses, therapy equipment, wheelchairs, braces, lifts, home renovations, van conversions, and more.
Shepherd Center (Atlanta, GA)
Spinal Cord Injury Fund
Shepherd Center treats a high volume of spinal cord injury (SCI) patients with any level of injury, including those who are ventilator dependent or have a dual diagnosis of spinal cord and brain injury. Shepherd Center has specialized treatment teams that are dedicated to adolescent patients, senior patients (age 50 and older), and patients who require medical/surgical care from secondary complications. Their patients go on to achieve some of the greatest functional improvements from the time they are admitted to the time they are discharged when compared to similar facilities and national statistics. SSPF’s grant will go to the fund used to purchase the array of equipment used in the Spinal Cord Injury rehabilitation program.
Southern Tier Alternative Therapies, Inc. (STAT)
Riding Connection, Binghamton, NY
The Riding Connection is an equine-assisted therapy program where STAT provides scholarships to individuals with special needs to participate in either Hippotherapy or Therapeutic Riding at private locations with both outdoor and indoor arena facilities. The SSPF grant is restricted to helping those with SCI.
Spinal Cord Injury Association of Iowa (Urbandale, IA)
SSPF’s grant will help to support a peer mentorship program called Spinal Cord Injury Roll Models. The program is geared to reach people who recently suffered spinal cord injuries as well as their family and friends. People who are newly injured will be matched to people living successfully and productively in the community who are at least two years post-SCI. The goals of the program are to meet with the patients and/or their family members while they are in the hospital to build rapport and educate them on living with a spinal cord injury and to continue the peer mentorship relationship when the person with the newly diagnosed SCI is discharged to offer support and social opportunities when they return to their homes and communities.
Step It Up Recovery Center (Sanford, FL)
This grant will provide funds to assist in the launch of a Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) program. Newly injured people begin to lose muscle mass almost immediately post-injury. FES provides real aerobic exercise in people who otherwise can’t move on their own; it boosts heart and lung function, improves strength and circulation, builds muscle mass, even in people with high quadraplegia. FES can help some to improve bladder and bowel function. There’s also evidence that FES helps reduce the frequency of pressure sores. The goals for the program include seeing each client reach maximum recovery potential through the hands-on therapy Step It Up will provide while utilizing the technology of the FES bike. The FES bike will fill a gap between how much their specialists can do with severely atrophied limbs and how far clients can push themselves with weakened muscles.
REINS Therapeutic Horsemanship Program (Bonsall, CA)
The REINS program provides weekly horseback riding lessons to children and adults with physical and mental disabilities. The therapy provided is intense and has helped students gain the strength they need to hold up their own head and speak their first word. It has even helped students walk those first steps or learn to walk again. Of their 200 students, 13 have suffered spinal cord injuries or have a debilitating condition.
Temple University (Philadelphia, PA)
Arts and Quality of Life Research Center, Singing for Tomorrow
The “Singing for Tomorrow” program helps children deal with the many physical, psychological, social, and spiritual challenges they face after having sustained an SCI. To optimize rehabilitation, common grief reactions such as disbelief, sadness, fear, anger, guilt, hopelessness, helplessness, social withdrawal, and decreased motivation need to be expressed, validated and supported. In addition, children with SCI may struggle to find meaning and hope for the future as the injury may drastically change their identities. This program seeks to address these children’s needs by providing them with a unique approach to self-expression: a songwriting program to enhance emotional expression and facilitate coping.
Unite 2 Fight Paralysis
Working2Walk event, Hood River, OR
SSPF provided sponsorship funding for Unite 2 Fight Paralysis’s annual Working 2 Walk event.
Victory Walk Inc. (Springdale, AR)
Victory Walk is devoted to maximum recovery for persons with Spinal Cord Injuries through affordable, specialized stimulative therapy. SSPF’s grant will allow them to upgrade their FES bike to the model RT300. The RT300adds upper extrimities stimulation for arms and fingers and includes remotely operated stimulators which will allow stimulation of specific sets of muscles such as back and shoulders. Increase in strength in these areas allows clients to sit up straighter and have more use of arms and fingers.
2009 QUALITY OF LIFE GRANTS
The Mobility Project (Bremerton WA)
The Mobility Project has shipped 60 wheelchairs to Afghanistan via the US Government’s Denton Program, which provides free shipping for humanitarian goods. In addition to distributing these wheelchairs they participate in food distribution and school supplies distribution in conjunction with Sozo International in an effort to reach out to the community. They requested funding for 14 pediatric wheelchairs and the parts and tires for the sports program in Kabul. The pediatric wheelchairs will benefit children with various disabilities who have never known the freedom of mobility. The parts and tires will be used to fix wheelchairs they took to Afghanistan over three years ago for a wheelchair sports camp and to the adaptive athletics program run at Ghazi Stadium in Kabul.
Society for Disabled Women (Pakistan)
SSPF will help to fund SDW mobile guidance and counseling programs for desperate, neglected and underprivileged disabled women in far off rural areas of Faisalabad district. The project provides proper care and treatment to neglected and poor women affected by various paralysis-causing conditions, including polio, that live in remote rural areas. Grant funds will support programmatic expenses for schooling, counseling, and medical care.
The Ashley & Friends Barrier-Free Playground
The Kathy & Tom Miller Family Foundation (Edina, MN)
The Ashley & Friends Barrier-Free Playground is being constructed at Miller Park in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. The inspiration is 5-year-old Ashley, who has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair for mobility needs. Eden Prairie has an extensive park system and will now have a barrier-free playground with accessible pathways and surface structures that allow non-mobile children and adults the opportunity to reach all areas of the play structure. This access will enable children with physical challenges to have the opportunity to play alongside their peers.
Blythedale Children’s Hospital (Valhalla, NY)
Blythedale Children’s Hospital is the only independent, freestanding hospital in the New York Metropolitan area that is dedicated exclusively to the care and treatment of children with complex medical needs. While they are located in upscale Westchester County (NY), more than two-thirds of their patients live in low-income neighborhoods in the five boroughs of New York City. The funding will enable them to purchase a standing frame and power lift for nonambulatory pediatric patients.
Schwab Rehabilitation Hospital (Chicago, IL)
Schwab Rehabilitation Hospital is a 128-bed rehabilitation hospital that provides a comprehensive array of rehabilitation services, advocacy, community-based disability prevention programs, and support groups to a predominately low-income African American and Hispanic population on Chicago’s west side. The grant will fund their “Gaining Independence through Art and Recreation” program, which supports community outings for people with disabilities.
Rehabilitation Hospital of Indiana (RHI) Sports Program (Indianapolis, IN)
The RHI Sports Program is dedicated to the belief that recreation is essential for all people. Their activities are designed with the intent of helping their athletes gain greater self-knowledge, decrease feelings of isolation, and increase levels of physical fitness; ultimately leading to the transference of these experiences into the areas of employment, interpersonal relationships, and community involvement. SSPF’s grant will help RHI Sports purchase the special basketball wheelchairs for these kids to use and then recycle them each year for the next team. Each chair costs roughly $2200.
ThinkFirst, Indianapolis Chapter (Indianapolis, IN)
Each year, an estimated 500,000 persons in the US sustain a brain or spinal cord injury. The most frequent causes of these injuries are motor vehicle crashes, violence, falls, sports, and recreation. Most of these injuries are preventable. ThinkFirst programs educate young people about their personal vulnerability and the importance of making safe choices. SSPF’s grant will be used to help provide funding for ThinkFirst VIPs to attend a three day conference to be trained, learn new techniques, meet other speakers, learn about funding, and other important strategies.
Saint Elizabeth Regional Medical Center (Lincoln, NE)
SSPF’s grant will help fund the costs of implanting the Synapse-NeuRx DPS™ RA/4 Diaphragm Pacing Stimulation System in up to 10 spinal cord injured patients. The device works like a pacemaker for the diaphragm. Electrodes, attached to the diaphragm, send an impulse forcing the diaphragm to contract—thus forcing the person to breathe. The implants strengthen the diaphragm muscle. Unfortunately Medicare currently does not reimburse for this device. It is already FDA-approved, so it is not considered experimental for patients that have spinal cord injuries.
Indy Racing League Ministry (Indianapolis, IN)
The Indy Racing League Ministry is dedicated to providing support and counseling to the Indy Racing League both on and off the track. The IRL Ministry cares for drivers and teams in the Indy Car Series and Firestone Indy Lights Series, the safety teams, IRL officials, hospitality providers, and support personnel. The total number of people served reaches into the hundreds. They provide non-denominational and catholic services at each of the IRL track venues. They also carry out the Rescue Food Ministry at each track. The IRL Ministry also attends each of the Foundation’s Day at the Races events.
Susquehanna Service Dog Program
Keystone Human Services DBA Keystone Children & Family Services (Harrisburg, PA)
SSPF’s grant will support the Susquehanna Service Dog program. They support individuals with paralysis to be independent in the community.
Lions Camp Tatiyee, Inc. (Lakeside, AZ)
The camp is the only special needs residential camp that is accredited by the American Camping Association in Arizona. They are also a health care facility with a full time nurse on site 24/7 and the hospital is only a mile away. They serve campers with cerebral palsy, spina bifida, and other diseases as well as varying spinal cord injuries. Most of these campers are wheelchair-bound. The entire camp is wheelchair accessible with new asphalt paving and ramps and they have just completed renovations to the rest rooms in the dorms and dining hall to bring them up to ADA specifications. They have a 1:1 ratio of wheelchair-bound campers to counselors.
Wheelchair Recycler (Marlboro, MA)
The Wheelchair Recycler recycles pre-owned electric wheelchairs and scooters, making them available to those without insurance or waiting for insurance. It also makes repairs to used chairs for people without insurance. The Chief Executive David Heim, an engineer by trade who suffered a spinal cord injury in 1995, founded the wheelchair recycling program after learning that the US system allowed thousands of people to go without mobility. Not only does he provide wheelchairs to those who cannot afford one, but the organization also helps to reduce the amount of aluminum, steel, rubber, battery parts, and other waste in our nation’s landfills.
Madonna Foundation
Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital (Lincoln, NE)
SSPF’s grant will assist in the acquisition of the Lokomat for Madonna. The Lokomat is a robotic assisted gait trainer that is designed to treat persons with disabilities across the full age continuum. Madonna believes the Lokomat will improve the quality of life, enhance independence, and offer a sense of hope and promise for patients and their families whose most fervent hope is to walk again. The Lokomat has a pediatric module, enabling one machine to serve both adult and pediatric patients.
Disabled Veterans Committee on Housing (Winchester, VA)
The mission of the Disabled Veterans Committee on Housing is to make all veterans as independent as possible by remodeling their present living space, or finding a government grant for them to have a home built meeting their specific needs. Specially adapted housing grants can, and will, drastically reduce the cost of building a home. The Committee has partnered with a local builder, approved by the Department of Veterans Affairs, to fulfill this mission.
Sports Education and Program Center for People with Disabilities
Adaptive Sports Foundation (ASF) (Windham, NY)
Adaptive Sports has a “Support Our Troops” program that brings injured soldiers to ASF and the Windham area for rehabilitative summer and winter recreational activities and instruction. A special event for female wounded soldiers was added in Spring 2008. Their goal for each program is to provide transportation, lodging, meals, and equipment to soldiers and their families at no expense for each event.
Push to Walk (Riverdale, NJ)
Push to Walk provides specialized exercise workouts to people with spinal cord injuries. They work one on one with clients helping them regain strength, function, and independence.
North Jersey Navigators (Bayonne, NJ)
The mission of North Jersey Navigators is to develop, implement, and coordinate special programs to help children with disabilities increase their mobility skills competencies, social skills, self-esteem, and activity levels, as well as to inspire children with disabilities to achieve increased participation in all physical activities.
Spinal Cord Injury/Disease Forum, TRAIL Talk and TRAIL Trek
University Hospital Foundation
University of Utah Health Care (Salt Lake City, UT)
The SCI Forum is a unique eight week educational opportunity held once a year for individuals with SCI, family members, caregivers, and friends. The purpose is to provide newly injured spinal cord patients the resources for continued healthy, active living after paralysis and thereby prevent secondary medical complications and re-hospitalization.
Spinal Cord Injury Consortium (Washington DC)
The SCI Consortium is dedicated to improving the lives of persons living with spinal cord injury (SCI). The primary project of the Consortium has been to produce and distribute the SCI Resource Guide. SSPF’s grant will be used for the publication and distribution of the 2010 SCI Resource Guide.
PREVIOUS QUALITY OF LIFE GRANT RECIPIENTS
2008 Quality of Life Grants
Sam Schmidt Paralysis Foundation Scholarship Fund, Thomas Edison State College, Trenton, New Jersey
The Wounded Warrior Projects, Jacksonville, Florida
Mountain Outreach Program, Cumberland College, Williamsburg, Kentucky
The Travis Roy Foundation, Boston, Massachusetts
Children’s TherAplay Foundation, Carmel, Indiana
Paws With A Cause, Wayland, Michigan
Wheels for the World, Joni and Friends, Agoura Hills, California
Adaptive Sports Center, Crested Butte, Colorado
2007 Quality of Life Grants
Rehabilitation Hospital of Indiana (Indianapolis, IN)
Freedom Field (Columbus IN)
R.A.G.E. (Las Vegas, NV)
Homes for Our Troops (Taunton, MA)
The Kids Equipment Network (Oak Park, IL)
2007 WSCA US National Disabled Water Ski Tournament (Indianapolis, IN)
Project Walk (Carlsbad ,CA)
The New York Academy of Sciences Research Symposium (New York, NY)
2006 Quality of Life Grants
Centers for Independent Living (Florida, Mississippi, and Louisiana)
Homes for Our Troops (Taunton, MA)
University of Washington’s Route 28 Summit Workshop
Ghana, Africa
Alan T. Brown Foundation (New York, NY)